jordan

I'm happy he's gone. Really soured on him as the season progresssed. 

For an owner who supposedly "loves baseball" - he doesn't always act like it.
I've said it before... the Angels have a culture problem and that starts with Arte.  At the end of the day, Arte may know how to make money - but he doesn't seem to know how to lead men and women.  He's not inspiring.  Great leaders make their teams feel safe.  He doesn't do that from what I can tell.  He seems to lack humility and I think many great leaders have that too.
I get the impression he loves the idea of owning a team.  He loves being at the park, etc. - but he doesn't have the passion for the game the way some owners might.  Maybe that's not fair.  I don't know the man.  That being said - over the years a picture of who he is has been painted for us and most of us wouldn't want to hang that painting on our wall. 
At the end of the day - it's his team.  He gets to do what he wants to do and it's all out of our control  I'm an Angels fan, but being a fan isn't the most important thing in my life.  It's not even close.  Baseball is supposed to be fun.  Angels baseball hasn't been much fun of late.  Thankfully, I have other things to do and focus on.  I keep my eyes on the Angels because when it is fun - it's real fun. 
My interest would probably be even less than it is right now if it wasn't for AW.  AW helps keep my interest in the game.  AW is a big part of my fandom now.  That's saying something.  That's a testimony to the work Chuck has done.
Players, coaches, GM's, broadcasters, etc. all come and go... but the AW faithful are here day in and day out.  That helps make baseball fun for me.
 

My name it's Patrick (known as PJ) to my brother Lou. My family and I have been following this since it was first posted and even created accounts. Most know by now that Lou passed peacefully in his sleep on August 8th at approximately 5pm while The Ocho was on TV (c'mon, you know he loved all sports even the weird ones, like Cricket). He constantly bragged about AngelsWin, all the fun times he had here and the trips to watch The Halos play, home and away with you guys. You all were his extended family and loved every minute he spent on here. To see him spend his last several days reading your posts and thoughts about him brought a smile (and tears) to his face, as it did his brothers and sister. All of us have also been keeping up with this post and you will never know how much we appreciate the love, memories, thoughts and especially the pictures you have shared. Our greatest memory with him was being in the front row at the left field foul pole for the Angels 2002 World Series win. All of us hugging and crying tears of joy at the site we thought we would never see. Close 2nd was Barry Bonds flipping us off during the game because Lou kept leading our entire section in a "sterrrroooooids!" chant while we were jamming a Thunderstick into our arms. Honor him by keeping his memory and stories alive. Celebrate his life. "LouDogg" was a smartass until the end and continued to make us laugh until his last breath.
Sincerely, 
The Garcia Family 
GO HALOS

Joyce has thrown 2 bullpen sessions last I heard. (Maybe 3 by now.) barring a setback he should definitely be back in August sometime. 

It seems likely Drury will come back sometime this week.  If so, I would expect to see Rengifo start at 3B more, given how hot he has been.  Maybe Moose will platoon at 1B with Cron to some degree?  Or maybe Rengifo will get some starts in the OF against LHP, with Moniak sitting?
Not really sure.  I don't really look at the "what happens when everyone is healthy" scenario, because quite frankly, that just never happens.

Regardless of outcome, I have to admit, it's great having Cron and Grichuk back with the team. They're capable hitters and there's a sense of nostalgia.
Ohtani doing incredible things is something we shouldn't take for granted. 
Moniak making good on the potential as a 1-1 has been a big boost. 
Many of us felt Moustakas should've been an Angel 5+ years ago. It's good to see it finally happen. Another local product. 
Trout is still one of the greatest hitters in the game, and getting him back healthy is something with watching. 
Bringing Giolito back home is a boost to the rotation and a fun narrative. 
Zach Neto is low key an extremely fun, energetic prospect/player that many fans back East don't know about, yet. 
Jose Soriano's journey to the big leagues was a winding road, but he's turned into a great bullpen weapon. 

I find it humorous that all the pundits on MLB Radio this morning are saying how stupid this was from the Angels and they arent making the playoffs.
Sorry, these are the same pundits that were picking teams like the Mets and Padres to start the season. If it was the Yankees they would be singing a different tune. If you arent willing to go all in during the possible last season of Trout and Ohtani, then when? 
Also, all we heard is the Angels could likely only get a couple good prospects in return until like a month ago and all of a sudden you could fleece a minor league system from an organization for him. I just dont buy that for a second. 

Would be something if Mike Trout came back and just went vintage Trout apeshit for the rest of the year, propelling the Halos to the playoffs, and shutting up all the critics. It’d be like Gandalf and the Rohirrim saving the day at Helm’s Deep-level of relief. 
am drunk 

Quero Quero. Remember Jesus Montero, the next great Yankee HOF catcher? What happened?
They traded Quero as he's still 20 and possibly at the peak of his value. He was not close to helping the Angels.
We already have Logan O'Hoppe.
Too many people losing their mind over trading this total unknown of a catcher.

A lot of it will come down to the weekend in Toronto.  We have lost the tie-breaker to the Astros and are likely not going to catch them.  We have the tie-breaker against BOTH the Red Sox and Yankees, and we are close to them in the standings.
The key will be that Blue Jays series.  We are 4 games behind them in the loss column now.  We are 1-2 against them this year.  IF we sweep them, then we are 100% in this race and can catch them.  IF they sweep us, then we are basically out of contention.  At the minimum though, we need to go 2-1.  I believe if we do, the tiebreaker is intradivisional games, and the Blue Jays are 7-20 against AL East teams (we are 16-14 against AL West teams).  A lot of games left with that tiebreaker, but obviously we are in a much more solid position than they are on that front.

And when the hell did Seattle become a winning baseball city? 
 
Give me a break. 

Interesting thought here. 
 

I would expect Neto, Drury and Moore back when the second half starts (or within a few days of the start). I’d also like to think Rendon will be OK by then but I know better than to assume. 
 
If you think about it, who are some of the guys who weren’t starting in May who are going to be counted on now?
Fletcher, Adell, Moniak, Moustakas, Escobar, Walsh. (I also think Rengifo has looked a little better lately, but we’ll see.)
That beats Mayfield, Lagares, Villar, Stefanic, Gosselin, etc.
They also still have a lot of room for improvement from Anderson and Sandoval. 
 
Do they have an uphill climb? A challenge? Sure 
But it’s too soon to give up. 

Rendon is the only one with a ring I believe. If anyone should take the reins of this team it should be him.  

Maybe it's Anthony Rendon
“We gotta do the little things,” Rendon said. “Little things add up to big things. I always tell these guys, ‘Hey, we gotta get at least, at a minimum 15 wins a month,’ You do the math… We’re gonna have a good chance at the end of the season to be in the hunt, to be able to play in October.
“We haven’t been playing the best, but we’ve hit the bare minimum. I need to push these guys a little bit more to at least get at least maybe 16 or 17 wins [a month], so just gotta keep grinding.”
 

I think Neto is going to be that guy along with O'Hoppe once he returns and establishes himself. Neto is a redass kind of player. He will take that pitch on the elbow to get on base then steal second on the pitcher just to prove it was a mistake to put him on. He does not sit well and hates any mistake he makes and probably has little patience for those that aren't as focused. I can see the rookie speaking up mid season in the clubhouse reminding these guys nobody really likes golfing in October when there are games to win. 

MLB has changed so much over the years, I’m no longer under an illusion I know what’s going on.  The game is much better defined by stats than the game I grew up with and that has changed the way I see it, but I feel distant from what the clubhouse must really be like.  Is there a player on the Angels that holds everyone (including himself) accountable?  Not in a visible way that I’ve noticed.  Maybe the team could benefit from some increased mixture of accountability and support, they need to do something different that’s for sure.

Have to respect the front office's cajones here. If you think about it there isn't anyone with dynamic/filthy enough stuff in the bullpen that can come in during the middle innings and get you a strikeout when you absolutely need one. If you want to get to the playoffs you are going to need a guy like that. Bachman can be that guy. 

Also, I feel like this needs to be said otherwise people will be disappointed...
Sam Bachman DOES NOT THROW 100. 
He doesn't even throw in the upper 90's, really. Can he reach back and hit 100? Yes. But the more I watch him, the more I've seen him fluctuate. Sometimes, he's throwing a darting two seamer at 93-94. Sometimes, he's reaching back and firing up in the zone at 98-99, but the ball isn't moving. 
At his most effective, he's throwing what I would call a "sinking fastball" at 96, low on the zone and it's generating a bunch of broken bats, weak grounders and two hoppers at the SS/2B. And even then, it's his change up and slider that make it so effective. 
But if you're expecting 100 every pitch in every outing, you'll be disappointed. 

Moronta he cost to much to feed

@Chuckster70 wishing your daughter and your family all the best for the upcoming wedding!  By the way... Claude is still waiting for his invitation.
Great podcast again.
Loved Victor's take on analytics.... and the idea of needing updates in real-time.
"The division is on the table" - Victor  That's so true... all the more reason the Angels need to get their act together.  This goes with your conversation where I agree with Chuck... about players getting too many days off! I like that Estevez went to Nevin and said he wanted to pitch more... I wish some of the players would do the same (assuming they're not).  Load management is a load of...
 
 

I don’t know how much truth there is to the report, but it is interesting that since the game on 4/24 where Estévez wasn’t used:
- Moore was then used in 3 out of 4 days, marking the second time it occurred for an Angels reliever all season.
- Estévez recorded his first appearance of more than 1 IP this season.
- The Angels SB attempts per game went up from 0.43 to 1.67
There are changes that have been made in the way they’ve operated since Arte reportedly told Perry to leave Nevin alone on managerial decisions. Seems like too big of a coincidence, but I guess we’ll see in the coming days/weeks. If relievers are used more frequently and they continue to run more, maybe the report is true.

Wait until Carpino becomes an AW moderator.

Agree 100% with your thoughts here. That was a long winded way to say you are a professional and have standards. Thanks for that, I know many do appreciate that. 
 
 

Sam Blum seems to feel proud that he was on "The View" based on his Twitter banner image. So it's not shocking that's his angle.
That show and its hosts are all about drama.